New Jersey is facing a growing climate crisis and families, businesses and taxpayers are increasingly footing the bill.
In a new opinion piece published by NJ.com, Clean Water Action New Jersey State Director Amy Goldsmith shares a firsthand look at how extreme weather is affecting New Jersey communities, from flash flooding and damaged homes to extreme heat, power outages and disruptions to transportation.
The economic costs are staggering. New Jersey has hundreds of thousands of properties at risk of flooding, while communities across the state face billions of dollars in needed investments to strengthen roads, transit, water infrastructure and other critical systems against worsening climate impacts.
At the same time, federal disaster assistance is becoming less reliable, leaving New Jersey with an even greater need for dedicated resources to prepare for and recover from extreme weather.
Goldsmith argues that New Jersey taxpayers and ratepayers should not have to shoulder these costs alone. The Polluters Pay Climate Fund Act (S.2338) would require fewer than 82 of the world’s largest fossil fuel extraction companies to contribute $2.5 billion annually for 20 years to help address the climate damage associated with their products. The funding would support infrastructure, disaster preparedness and recovery, health care and other critical needs.
As Goldsmith writes:
New Jersey residents are already paying the price of climate change through damaged homes, rising costs and repeated disasters.”
The question, she argues, is whether New Jersey will continue asking families to bear those costs alone, or require the companies that helped create the climate crisis to pay their fair share.
Read Amy Goldsmith’s full op-ed in NJ.com:
Why should NJ families pay for climate damage caused by fossil fuel giants?
